Lights in the night: 26 candles to glow in remembrance at Fairfield vigil

Genevieve Reilly

Published 1:28 pm, Monday, December 17, 2012

While his funeral service was being held just a few blocks away, six-year-old Noah Pozner was also being honored at a memorial set up at the Sherman Green by an anonymous resident. A vigil is planned for 5 p.m. at the gazebo.
Photo: Genevieve Reilly

While his funeral service was being held just a few blocks away,...

A local man spent time Monday morning setting up a memorial on the Sherman Green for the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Photo: Genevieve Reilly

A local man spent time Monday morning setting up a memorial on the...

A local man spent time Monday morning setting up a memorial on the Sherman Green for the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Photo: Genevieve Reilly

A solitary figure can to Sherman Green Monday morning. Under the gray skies, he was patiently setting up the platforms -- 26 of them -- that would hold the yellow luminaries to be lit during a vigil tonight.

At the same time, just a few blocks down the road, mourners were heading into a Beach Road funeral home for services for 6-year-old Noah Pozner, the first of many funerals to come for the Sandy Hook victims.

"This is a way to celebrate them," said the man, who didn't want to give his name and would say only that he is local resident. The hood on his sweatshirt was pulled up to ward off the cold, as he placed sticks inside the sand-filled luminary bags to help keep them upright.

It was taking a long time, he said, to get the luminaries in place. And the elevated platforms would be used to lift them off the ground so the children and their teachers would be remembered for who they were, and not thought of simply as victims, he said.

"It actually takes hours and hours," he said. "You can feel the pain writing the names, and putting the sand in the bag, and yet it only took a few minutes for all those lives to be lost."

A community vigil has been organized by town officials at 5 p.m. today on Sherman Green, rain or shine. Community and spiritual leaders have been invited to help lead the program.